Learning Disability Wales

Family Fund – Grants for Disabled Children and Young People

26 January 2018

Raising a disabled child or young person can be a struggle emotionally, physically and financially. Family Fund provides grants to families raising disabled or seriously ill children and young people, helping to ease the additional pressures that families face.

Families can now apply for grants for essential items such as
clothing, bedding, kitchen appliances or household items such as
beds. This includes families in Wales who had received a grant in
the last three years and were therefore not eligible to apply again
due to changes in funding.

Family Fund estimates that this funding
will allow them to make grants to over 200 more families in Wales
who have previously been unable to apply for support due to funding
changes.

Charlotte is 12 years old and lives in South Wales. Her mum,
Hayley, said "She loves going swimming, gymnastics lessons, and
listening to music, in lots of ways she's like any other 12 year
old girl. She is very social and loves being around people.

"Charlotte has a range of complex needs and developmental
conditions, she has cerebral palsy, autism and severe learning
difficulties, but despite this she can be fiercely
independent!"

"Recently, our dishwasher broke, and the door had to be held on
with a cable tie which is obviously not ideal, but it caused
problems for Charlotte too. She has special beakers which need to
be kept sterile, and trying to achieve this with a broken
dishwasher is not easy.

"What's more, Charlotte loves water and has no awareness of
danger so a washing up bowl full of water could cause a potential
risk for her. We applied for a grant for a new dishwasher and it's
made a world of difference, we also purchased the extended warranty
which means we shouldn't have to worry about it for a while!"